Composition of matter



Patented June 3, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. THOMPSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y. ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN BRAKE MATE- RIALS CORPORATION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK COMPOSITION OF MATTER No Drawing. Original application filed August 26, 1927, Serial No. 215,767. Divided and this application filed February 18, 1928. Serial No. 255,497.

I This application is a division of my original application No. 215,767, filed August 26, 1927.

. The invention relates to compositions of '5 matter, and its object is to provide a novel composition, which can be used for friction brakes and for other purposes, which can be readily and easily. prepared and formed to shapes desired for different uses, including brakes, clutches and other mechanical devices wherein a braking or retarding effect is required, and which will produce a uniform and efficient braking resistance with relatively little wear and without being structurally affected by the heat of friction except at the contact surface.

My invention contemplates a mixture of asbestos and a carbonaceous material in a suitable form with a binder and in propor- 2 tions which may be varied to secure desired results as hereinafter indicated.

I use fibrous asbestos because it bonds the mass together and is heat resistant. I recommend the use of short fiber asbestos for reait satisfactory for the purpose.

For the carbonaceous material I now prefer to use a coking coal, which will melt under heat, which will give up" condensable gases to produce tarry or pitchy elementsunder continued heat, and which can be readily prepared in a satisfactory form and combined with the asbestos in a manner which I regard as best suited for forming the composition into shapes for use as brake blocks or into-other shapes for other purposes.

I use a binder which has the property of enabling the composition to be reduced to a solid form, and for this purpose I prefer to use an oxidizing or drying oil.

The invention may bepracticed for making friction blocks by providing short fiber asbestos, a carbonaceous-material" ,such as bituminous coal reduced to a finely. divided condition, and double boiled linseed oil. which protects the coal beneath the plastic have used coal which will pass through a 20 mesh screen and finer coal. The asbestos and coal and linseed oil are mixed in a suitablemixer. The mixture is placed in a is being distilled, and the thickness and namold and is subjected to a sufficient pres-- sure, say 2,000 pounds or more per square inch, to form a solid block, and the block is then placed in a drying oven and suitably cured. I consider it important that the carbonaceous material be in a finely divided condition and that it be distributed with a fair degree of uniformity throughout the mixture so that the wearing face of the block will be a composite .of asbestos and carbonaceous material with the carbonaceous material distributed in a finely divided condition throughout the wearing surface at all times during the life of the block. An example of a composition which may be used, and one which I have found satisfactory, is as follows: equal parts of asbestos and bituminous coal, and ten per cent by weight of linseed oil. The proportions of the asbestos and bituminous coal may be varied to meet different requirements as to friction and durability.

When the brake block is pressed under braking pressure against a member to be braked, such as a drum, the air is excluded from the braking contact'surface and the coal at the surface will become plastic at a temperature of approximately 540 to 720 F., which temperature is quickly reached in a friction brake. This plastic condition is sufficient for some braking. As the friction heat increases and the coal mass at the surface becomes substantially rigid, decomposition gases are produced. These gases are converted into a tarry or pitchy material which produces the desired condition for a higher degree of friction as required. This plastic zone consists of coal in the process of melting with tarry or pitchy material that ture of the zone depends upon the kind of coal used, the degree of fineness and the rate of temperature increase. The plasticzone is of very slight depth under all conditions, it travels inward of the block slowly and it forms an insulatingshield or diaphragm zone against the heat of friction. As the friction heat increases, or as the braking contact surface of the block wears away, the plastic I wear of the block under any ordinary brake "application can hardly be detected. The

gases and vapors are liberated onthe drum side, which is the hot side, of the plastic zone, and the tarry material into which they are converted forms a thin film coating on f the braking surface of the block and a most efiicient braking element.

While I have referred to a coking coal as an example of a material which can be satisfactorily employed in my invention, I do not restrict myself thereto, but desire to use any carbonaceous or pyrobituminous material suitable for the purpose. A carbonaceous material, especially in a finely divided condition, has been found to be highly desirable as a frictional material because it contains theelements which are capable of producing a high degree of friction resistance, and because these elements are present in the carbonaceous material in a condition ready to be converted by the heat of friction to produce the friction resistance in the degree and as required for efiective braking. The particles of carbonaceous material are distributed as uniformly as possible in the mixing operation throughout the body of the block, and they are supported and bonded together by the asbestos, as well as by the binder.

I have referred to the use of'the composition in friction blocks for brakes, and

such changes within the scope of the following claims.

I claim: 1. A friction composition for brakes and 6. A friction composition for brakes and other purposes consisting of a mixture of natural friction sustaining carbonaceous material, asbestos, and a hinder, the carbonaceous material being finely divided and substantially uniformly distributed throughout other purposes consisting of a mixture of a solid natural frlction sustaining carbona ceous material, asbestos, and a binder.

2. A friction composition for brakes and other purposes consisting of a mixture of coal, asbestos, and a binder.

3. A friction composition for brakes and other purposes consisting of a mixture of other purposes consisting of a mixture of finely divided natural friction sustaining carbonaceous material, asbestos, and linseed oil. 

